Countdown
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: Future fic. Rayna and Deacon impatiently look forward to the birth of their twins. Rayna/Deacon


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Nashville and never will. No copyright infringement intended.

**Warnings**: Semi-graphic birth

* * *

Rayna groaned as she tried to stand up, a nearly impossible feat these days. "You need any help, Ray?" Deacon hovered over his wife now, something which deeply annoyed her, but she knew that he only did so because he loved her and was worried.

She rolled her eyes at her husband. "I'm fine. I was fine last time you asked. Now please stop bothering me before I punch you."

He backed away reluctantly because he knew she'd do it, having punched him (not that hard, but still) before. "No contractions or anything like that?"

Rayna sighed. "Like I told you last time, these babies aren't ready to come out yet. I will let you know when they are. Until then, stop hovering and go do something else." He was driving her crazy and she couldn't take it anymore.

Deacon was hurt, but didn't let it show because he knew he was being annoying. Plus, he (and a lot of others) had been on the receiving end of Rayna's anger for the past few weeks as her pregnancy reached the end point, so they tried not to take it personally now. He knew how uncomfortable she was and understood all she wanted was to do was have the twins. "Sorry. I'll go find the girls and we can go out to eat or something."

"No, I'm sorry. I know that I'm snapping at ya'll and none of you deserve it." Rayna hated that her emotions were all over the place and definitely couldn't wait for that to be over. She was sick of being pregnant and just wanted these babies out of her. Preferably soon.

He couldn't really be hurt when she was like that nor be mad. "Hey, it's okay, Baby. We all understood and it's only temporary anyway. And soon, we'll have two little babies in our lives." He desperately wanted to meet his children, but he was nervous about it at the same time. Deacon hadn't been around very many babies and Maddie was a teenager (a hell of its own, especially with two in the house, and something he was dreading going through with the twins) now so he didn't have much experience at all. Rayna had assured him that she would be there to help him and she wouldn't let him screw it up.

Rayna winced at sudden back pain – pretty much a constant companion these days – and then sighed. "You're such a patient man, Deac. And you're going to be very well rewarded after these kids are out of me." Sex had stopped being possible months ago because she was just too big and uncomfortable to do anything. He didn't complain, though, which she knew he wanted to do.

"And you're still beautiful." And Deacon wasn't lying. Even this pregnant, she was the most beautiful woman he had laid eyes on. She didn't believe him, though, which drove him a little crazy.

"Whatever you say." She headed into the kitchen to grab a quick snack and waved goodbye to her husband as he left to pick up Maddie and Daphne from school. Thirty-seven weeks pregnant with twins (a complete surprise at her age), Rayna couldn't do much of anything these days. She appreciated Deacon picking up the slack with pretty much everything that needed to be done.

That night in bed, Rayna and Deacon discussed names yet again. They had a shortlist, but it was hard to choose anything because they had elected to keep the sexes of the babies a surprise. At forty-four, it was the last time Rayna would be pregnant (And they were both still shocked it had happened in the first place) and she wanted this last big surprise. Deacon didn't care what the babies were, as long as they were healthy and he also wanted that surprise.

Two days passed, and Maddie and Daphne were sent to Teddy's for their weekend with him, leaving Rayna and Deacon alone, probably for the last time. Rayna shifted uncomfortably on the couch and just wished she could find a nice position, but that definitely wasn't possible. She couldn't wait until it was. She wanted to see her feet again. Preferably not swollen, because she missed shoes, too. She gasped as a pain ran up her back.

"You okay?" Deacon jumped at every little thing lately and Rayna looked like she was in a little bit of pain. He hoped she was in labor.

"I don't know. My back's been killing me for weeks, but this just seems different somehow." She hoped this was the start of labor because she couldn't take much more of this.

"Early labor?" As soon as he learned his wife was pregnant, Deacon had asked the nanny to go the bookstore and pick up any book she could find on pregnancy. He now knew a whole lot more than he had ever wanted to know about childbirth. Some of those images were burned into his retinas and he wished they could go away.

"Possibly. We'll just time them and see what happens next." Now more uncomfortable than ever, Rayna got up to walk around the house because she was restless. The back pain flared up every fifteen minutes and they called the doctor to inform him of what was happening.

Four hours in, Rayna woke with a gasp when a rather painful contraction rose up from within her. Deacon, unable to sleep because he was a little worried, turned the light on. "Another contraction?"

She bit her lip and nodded. "They're getting worse." The clock revealed it was only three in the morning and Rayna swore at her luck. She had wanted to sleep through the night because she knew she wouldn't get much rest in the next few days (or years), but it looked like that wasn't happening.

Rayna and Deacon sat and watched some random infomercial to pass the time. Ten minutes later, another contraction wracked her frame and Rayna leaned her head on his shoulder to try to get through the pain. He massaged her back to try to get the pain to ease up. "I'm right here, Ray. I'm not going anywhere."

"Thanks." She stood up and went to walk around when something started to trickle down her leg. Rayna looked down and then up at her husband. She laughed nervously. "So it's time to get to the hospital. My water just broke." She headed to their dresser to get a change of clothes, and within fifteen minutes, they were on their way to the hospital.

Rayna was quickly admitted and hooked up to a fetal heart-rate monitor so the doctors could check on the twins. An ultrasound was set up to determine the position of the twins, and luckily, both were headfirst. During one particularly bad contraction, Rayna reached her arms out for Deacon and he let her grab purchase of him. He hated seeing her in so much pain, but she was determined to have a natural childbirth, something she had done with both Maddie and Daphne.

"You're doing so well. We're almost there."

"I am not. I'm only five centimeters dilated." Rayna still had a long way to go before she could deliver these babies.

"This means you're halfway there already!" He hoped he was comforting her, but he didn't think it was working very well.

"Can I get up and walk around please?" Half an hour later and Rayna couldn't stand sitting in the bed anymore.

The nurse looked up at her and checked the fetal heart-rate monitor. "Sure. Let's just get you unhooked and you can go walk around." She quickly had Rayna up and around, who held onto Deacon's hand with a death grip as they walked the hallways.

A contraction hit halfway back to the room and she groaned. "Hurts," she murmured.

Deacon's heart broke for his wife, especially since he was unsure of what to do. "I know it does," he soothed. He let her grab onto him and try to ride the pain out. When they returned to the room, the doctor was there and he checked Rayna out again – Luckily, she was seven centimeters dilated.

"You're almost there, Miss Jaymes. I expect that you should be fully dilated in about three hours." He smiled at them and then left the room.

"Three more hours? I don't know how much more I can take of this." Rayna was already exhausted and so hot she couldn't stand it.

Deacon sat down on the bed and grinned at his wife. "I'm here every step of the way. You know that, right?"

She nodded and then gasped in pain when another contraction rippled through her. "Fuck. All I want is for these babies to get out of me." Tears came to her eyes and she hated that she was so emotional about this.

He wiped the tears off her face and let her squeeze his hand. Deacon didn't even care that she was cutting off the circulation to his hand – The woman he loved was in pain and giving birth to their kids. Rayna could do whatever she wanted.

Two and a half hours later, the doctor came in to check on Rayna's progress. "Congratulations, you're fully dilated. We're going to wheel you up to the OR to deliver these babies."

Rayna would have been happy about that if she wasn't in the midst of another contraction and exhausted beyond belief. She couldn't even think straight. Deacon couldn't believe it was finally happening.

Almost immediately after she was settled into the OR, Rayna felt the urge to bear down and whimpered as she started to push. Deacon held his wife's hand and stared at her in awe. He couldn't believe the strength she was showing. "I love you, Ray."

She didn't answer, too busy concentrating on pushing. "Come on, already, baby. I need you out."

"I can see the head. It's almost crowning."

A few minutes later, Rayna bit back a scream at the burning sensation as the head began to crown. She couldn't help the tears that began falling, however, and was past the point of caring.

"A few more pushes and you can meet your baby. Bear down and push, Miss Jaymes." The doctor smiled encouragingly as he kept a hold of the baby's head.

This time, Rayna did scream when the pain got worse. Two pushes later, the baby was free from her body. "What is it?"

"Congratulations, you have a son."

Deacon laughed excitedly. "Did you hear that, Baby? We have a little boy." He was a little disgusting, but still beautiful. Deacon cut the cord and the newborn was placed on Rayna's chest.

Rayna just stared in awe at the baby. "Hello, handsome. I'm your mommy and this is your daddy. We love you so much." She was a mom of three (soon to be four) now and it was surreal.

"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me." Deacon kissed the side of Rayna's head and waved at the crying newborn.

The moment was cut short by another contraction. "Oh God." Rayna just wanted to sleep and she couldn't.

A nurse carefully picked the baby up and whisked him away as they prepared for the birth of the other twin. "One more and our family's complete." Deacon couldn't wait to find out if they were having another son or if the baby was another girl.

Rayna whimpered and she ignored the urge to bear down. "I can't do this again. I can't. It hurts too much."

"Yes you can. You did so well and I'm so proud of you." Deacon kissed her again and then grabbed her hand as she began to push.

Nine minutes after the first baby was born, the second twin – a girl – came screaming into the world. After everything was taken care of, Rayna and the babies were taken back to her room.

"I want to go to sleep, but I can't stop staring at them." Rayna was holding the little girl and Deacon had the boy.

"I know what you mean." He was a father of three (and stepfather to one) now. Deacon was actually a little bit in shock now.

"I think your name is Lydia Charlotte." The name seemed to fit the baby and Rayna couldn't get it out of her head.

Deacon looked over at them. "You're right. Hey there, Lydia." The baby ignored them, continuing to sleep.

"And what's our little guy's name, then?" Rayna couldn't think of anything and her mind was blank.

Deacon stared at the baby in his arms for a few minutes trying to think of a name. "Parker? Thomas? Christopher? Alexander?"

"None of those names fit."

"Finn?" Now Deacon was just throwing names out there because he couldn't think of anything either. None of the names on their shortlist seemed to fit the newborn.

"Finley Alexander works well, don't you think?" While she didn't like Alexander as a first name, she loved it as a middle name.

Deacon didn't really like Finley, but they'd call him Finn anyway, a name he did like. And besides, he couldn't say no to Rayna after she had just done all that hard work to deliver their kids. "I think you're right."

Rayna yawned but beamed at both babies. "Welcome to the world, Finn and Lydia." She placed the baby in the incubator and closed her eyes to finally sleep.

Deacon and Rayna would bring the twins home in a few days, and they welcomed the chaos two teenage girls and the babies would bring. Their family was complete and life was going pretty well for them. Neither of them would change anything that had happened to them in their lives because it had worked out eventually in the end.


End file.
